The seasonal depression

ByLove/epictura

Published the 19.10.2017 to 18: 00

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Keywords :

dépressionlumièreluminothérapie

More than 4 million French feel, from October to April, and a desire to sleep constantly. Sad, tired, they take the weight, guided by a desire imperious of sugar, and prefer isolation to their normal activities ; it is difficult to concentrate, including some children whose academic results are declining.

The autumn is in general faithful to the appointments of the nervous breakdowns seasonal, a real illness with real symptoms.

Everyone feels this relationship between mood and the sun, but in medicine, the evidence the more simple must be proved. In the early 80s, a handful of researchers from the institute of mental health of the United States have had kind of a crazy idea : since people seemed to be depressed when they lacked the light, why not to expose simply ? One of their friends, an engineer of 63 years, went through a deep depression, each year, at the approach of winter. He agreed to lend to the experience. A metal housing, covered with a plastic screen, in which were inserted fluorescent lights : the first light therapy device was born ! Three days later, the “guinea pig” had returned to a state of well being, very deep. Thirty years later, the therapy has become one of the reference treatments of depressions seasonally, including for the official medicine : the temple of French psychiatry, which is the Sainte-Anne hospital in Paris has a unit of light therapy that is very active.

Most of our biological functions, especially the secretion of hormones, are placed under the direction of an internal clock that organizes the operation schedule. This clock, to synchronize, only has the sleep-wake rhythm, so the alternation day-night, the translation of which is the presence or absence of natural light. That it becomes insufficient and the clock goes out of sync. Certainly, the inhabitants of the nordic countries are more unfortunate than we ; 10 % are very affected by the short days of winter. But in our country, if the day lasts longer, it is often with clouds and rain, which causes a very weak luminous intensity. This amount of light figure : the brightness level released by the sun passes from 50 000 lux in the summer to 500 lux in the winter, so as to synchronize our clock, the light intensity must exceed 2 000 lux at eye level. A phenomenon accelerated by modern life : 80 % of the active population works in artificial light at levels of intensity inadequate for our balance…

It is sufficient to expose at least an hour a day in the sun, a true message of precaution, but probably insufficient when the depression is installed, and especially for those who can’t get out easily : the sick, the elderly, the handicapped or injured, target all found in this form of depression.

The light, or ” light as an antidepressant… “, is to orient a light source special to the face, in the morning if possible, for 30 minutes. The spectrum of the light used must be the closest possible to the light of day, which is not always the case of consumer devices on sale everywhere.

In 80% of cases, this treatment produces positive effects at the end of a few days and reaches its full effect in a few weeks. The American Psychiatric Association, the very powerful learned society of this country, concluded in a major study : “the light therapy is as effective as antidepressant medication for combating the symptoms of this form of depression “. A message that is not necessarily popular in our country who loves the antidepressants…